Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members of this House hear no end of problems with public housing. Every community in my riding hears the same story. What really gets me, though, is when this government discourages people from working. For example, if you live in public housing in Sachs Harbour and you get a job, you’re going to pay what they call economic rent. I don’t know what economic rent is all about, because hardly anybody can afford it. We’re talking about $3,000 a month plus electricity and water for a three-bedroom house in Sachs Harbour, which could add up to $4,000 a month for a four-bedroom unit. That reward, where you’re lucky enough to get your job, you’ll pay as much as public housing would pay for a $750,000 home in Yellowknife. That’s a shame.
I don’t know how this NWT Housing Corporation comes up with so-called economic rent for Sachs Harbour and the communities, but fairness and affordability don’t seem to have anything to do with it. People get a new job and this kind of rent does not pay. They literally cannot afford to work.
The big problem that results is sky-high rent in public housing more than people who are in arrears with the government, basically putting people in debt with the NWT Housing Corporation as soon as they go to work. We have to do something about this. We’re always preaching about creating jobs in our small communities. If the people want to keep working, we must have a reasonable rent scale.
At the appropriate time I will have questions for the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
